In order to ensure faster operationalisation of mining leases auctioned in March and thereby increasing the iron ore production in the State for further availability of end use industries like steel, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has urged the State Government for waiver of compensatory afforestation land and certification under Forest Rights Act.
The FICCI has approached the Odisha Government in this regard, saying the growth of the Indian steel sector is primarily driven by domestic availability of iron ore and Odisha being the largest iron ore producing State occupying a significant position in the nation’s iron and steel landscape, the State Government is needed to look into such aspects.While appreciating the smooth conduct of auction of mineral blocks, operationalisation of some of the newly acquired mines is a serious issue.
There is still a huge supply shortage of iron ore for the steel industry in Odisha which is putting the producers in great difficulty, with many of them on the verge of shutdown.
While 90 Million Ton (MT) of production capacity was auctioned and the proportionate dispatch per month should have been 5-6 MT, however production and dispatch are not up to mark.
Considering the above, the FICCI has suggested for expediting process of approvals and clearances, in order to facilitate production of ore. Mining leases which were operational up to March 31 2020 with all valid clearances, including Forest Clearance, had fulfilled all necessary pre-requisites for obtaining the clearances like payment of NPV and afforestation charges, providing equivalent area of non-forest land for compensatory afforestation (CA) and also obtaining the certification under Forest Rights Act (FRA).
The FRA certification, identification of CA land and payment of NPV were pre-requisites to the diversion of forest land to non-forest use. The diverted land no longer has the status of forest land and therefore, these requirements cannot apply again in case of same land.
Thus, re-mandating new lessees with all these requirements again is unwarranted as the FC Act and Rules & Guidelines framed there under lay down these conditions for diversion of virgin forest land and not for cases like these which involve‘re-diversion’ of already diverted forest land necessitated due to change in the mineral concession regime and subsequent change in lessee. Therefore, while dealing with Forest Clearance for the leases that expired on March 31, mandate of CA land should not be stipulated for these leases as equivalent area of non-forest land has already been transferred to the Department of Forest and Environment prior to granting initial Forest Clearance for the projects.
Secondly mandate of certification under Forest Rights Act should also be waived as same has been done earlier and no further rights are involved as area, mining leases been granted have been under operation for many years, urged the FICCI.